Worlds Apart
by SakuraUchiha2328
Summary: She wasn't really expecting much when she stumbled upon his camp. She wasn't expecting to be taken by force and out of the city she lived in for so long. She wasn't expecting him to be involved with her past. AltairxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Important AN at the end!**

Disclaimer: I do not own AC; characters you do not recognise is solely my own creation.

Enjoy :)

* * *

" ELLA! ELLA! ELLA!"

Millions of chants filled through her ears as Ella continued to sway her body to the imaginary music in her head. Hips swaying side to side, she allowed herself to unwind as she kept her eyes closed.

She stretched her hands outwards towards the sky, her hands twisting against each other as she dropped to bow and moved up again. The bells attached to the last layer of her cloth jingled with each step.

In the heart of Masyaf, Ella always found herself winding up a crowd through her dancing and it wouldn't be long until she found a name for herself in the city. Not to mention a foundation for money.

A wondering gyspy she was, traveling far and wide with her faction that she had stumbled upon after her parent's death at the age of 14. The death of her parents she has somewhat came to terms with, but it was still not a topic that she would like to breech even though it has been years since they had left to another land.

" ELLAAAA!" A voice yelled, screeching the ends of her name that broke Ella from her reverie of thoughts.

Peeling her eyes open, her eyes widened in shock, drinking in the sight of her friend. " Sayve?"

The blue dancer grinned in response through her thin fabric of a mask as she gave her a wink. " Of course it's me, Ella. Nice seeing you here."

She laughed in silence, careful to not disrupt her dance as it soon fell in sync with Sayve's sudden appearance as though it was a common occurrence. " I'm always here. Why are you here? I thought Ahmad sent you an errand to run."

" He did, I just so happened to be done with it early. Surprised, huh? So am I."

If this was at a different time and place, when her so-called-family didn't depend on her to get some money for their daily outlay, Ella would've thrown her head back at her friend's reply and give a sassy comeback. But this was work and apparently, Sayve understood Ella lack of response as she gave a nod to her direction.

When silence fell between them, Ella finally heard the new chorus of whispers about Sayve.

_" Who is she?"_

_ " She dances as well as the one in white."_

" They're talking about you, you know." Ella whispered to Sayve, her head lowering slightly as she pushed her chest out and curved her back and vice versa, in a wave motion.

" I know."

" Then –"

From a distance, Ella could see the familiar figures of city guards coming her way. There were 3 of them, a smaller group than the ones she had encountered yesterday.

Abruptly stopping her dance, she quickly rushed to the front where a small pouch lay on the ground. Being previously empty, it was now filled with coins. Pulling on the strings to close it, she wiped her head front, fast enough to see the guards not more than 7 feet away from her now.

" Hey, you! How many times must we tell you to –"

His words were cut short as the gigantic crowd started to disperse, a hum of murmurs drowning down his voice and Ella took this chance to flee. Grabbing Sayve's hand, they both broke into a run; Ella leading while Sayve followed.

Sometimes, when she ran away from those guards, she always cursed herself for not wearing a shoe. With the amount of stones in her way, one would think that she would remember but no; Ella never remembered and that was how she always found herself on her rooftop plucking out stones and some other objects that wedged on her sole.

" Who was that?" Sayve questioned from behind and Ella didn't even bother to turn back to look at her.

" Guards. We'll have to split up," Ella said, faltering her footsteps into a halt as she turned to Sayve, " You go the other way while I go this way. Stay safe and don't do anything stupid, okay? See you back home."

Sayve cracked her one last grin, her hair whipping alongside the wind. " Without stupid I'm not me." A laugh. " Sure thing, Ella. See you."

And the both of them dispatched from where they were standing.

Twisting and turning into familiar corners(Ella had the whole map layout of Masyaf memorized in her mind;. Who knew if one day that information would be a great asset.) She wondered shortly to how a third party would see a girl dressed in thin white robes running around the streets. It would definitely be a funny sight to see.

" STOP!" A voice yelled, and she would only assume it was a guard. Turning her head back just a fraction, Ella held in a grimace. Great, so her assumptions had been correct.

They followed her and not Sayve. Why couldn't they follow Sayve instead?

As of right now, Ella couldn't return to her normal refuge or they would trace her back there again or worse, ask her to leave Masyaf. No… She can't do that.

Okay, then, she'll just have to stay at the roof tops for a while; hopefully she'll be able to shake them off. A few carts came into her view and she wasted no time in running on top of them to give her some leverage on getting to the rooftops. Her fingers brushed against the edge of the roof as she jumped, but not quite grasping it fully.

_' I'm going to fall and break my back and the guards are going to arrest me.'_ She thought grimly, reaching out her other hand to try to get a hold of something solid before it was too late. When Ella felt her wrist being wrapped around by another, she let out a sigh of relief and allowed herself to be pulled up.

No need to worry about broken backs and guards anymore, thankfully.

With both her legs settled onto solid ground, she finally looked up from the floor to see her savoir.

The figure was tall, her wild guess was that he was slightly shorter than 6 ft –which was a good 5 inches taller than her. By the slimness of his outfit, she was guessing he was lean too, but she can't say much due to his ridicules layers of white robes. A number of weapons were latched on him too; he must be a guard of some sort, but not the ones she encountered earlier; his dressing was different.

When Ella finally looked up to meet his gaze, or the lack of his gaze due to his hood blocking it, she didn't know where else to look at. The only part visible was the tip of his nose and his mouth. And it wouldn't really be appropriate to look at his mouth when she spoke.

And so she looked away from him, down to the streets where the guards looked high and low for her.

" Thank you," She said.

Silence greeted her end and she turned to the direction where the man stood, or formerly stood. He had left without uttering a word or making much noise as he left for that matter. Nonetheless, she had been pulled up and saved from the terrible fate the fall would've brought her.

Continuing her journey and forgetting about what had happened moments ago, Ella proceed to jump across rooftops to get to her home.

* * *

Hey guys! So I finally decided to post the first chapter of this story and MAKE MY FIRST ASSASSIN'S CREED STORY! :) Buttt; a warning before hand.

I have not played AC I yet and therefore, I don't really know the characters really well or most of them anyway. Altair will be a little OCC here and there so I need a beta to help me with his personality. Anyone up for grabs? The storyline would be different from the game too, just in case anyone's wondering.

And leave a review so I know if you guys enjoy it? It'll really brighten up my day to see some feedback :) Ideas are welcome if you want me to add things into the story; but this doesn't mean I will 1000% put it in.

**REVIEW IF YOU LOVE ALTAIR**


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own AC; characters you do not recognise is mine.

Enjoy x

* * *

The orange streams of light leaked down onto the sand as dusk fell upon her as she descended down the rooftops and into the window below her. Inaudibly, her sudden arrival drew the attention of none except Sayve who stood by the window, as if waiting for her to make her appearance.

" Took you long enough," Sayve said, tossing her a stack of clothes her way, " You should change. You look like you went through a sandstorm –in other words, a wreck."

Sending Sayve a glare, Ella moved to the closest object that could reflect her reflection to her. Okay, maybe what Sayve said was true –she did look like a wreck. White garments filled with dirt around her, strands of her dark brown hair falling out from her bun and her face veil slightly torn; yes, she would definitely agree that she did look very much like a wreck.

" I hate you, you know sometimes," Ella muttered as she passed Sayve in order to go to the toilet to change.

A hand slapped her back and Ella flinched as Sayve's laughter rang deep into her ears. " The feeling is mutual, my dear Ella."

Overlooking her friend's comment, Ella slipped into the commode, pulling out her face veil in the process and throwing it into the little bin at the side of the door. She stared at the mirror before her, her ever so green eyes examining the tiny scratches marred on her face.

Now, Ella wouldn't say she was the prettiest person out there in the city but many had told her that the exotic look she displayed, some would say so otherwise. Jawline prominent, it highlighted her cheekbones clearly with the sharp facial features she had. Sometimes, she hated the attention drawn on her and yet other times, like when she danced, the attention was welcomed.

A smile settled on her face as she took out the pouch of coins and positioned it on a counter top, before changing into her normal attire. Just as she was about to walk out of the door, she remember about the stones she'd forgotten to pluck out on her feet. Muttering a grumble, Ella dully lifted up her feet to ease the pain from the stones and switched to the other one when she was done with on.

Once done with the stones, she grabbed her clothes and her pouch as she opened the door and walked out.

If there was one thing Ella was grateful for was that her fraction had decided to settle in this city for a while –hence, living in a small house. It wasn't much, but it was something and Ella was happy with that.

Her fraction was small, containing members of around 7, including her; so it was easy for them to settle down unlike other fractions who had 20 members or more walking around.

Sayve reunited with her once she caught Ella walking around, heads scanning the room as if looking for someone.

"Looking for someone?" Sayve asked, hands pulled back as she stood on her toes to match Ella's height.

Ella turned to face Sayve, " Where's Ahmad?"

This caused Sayve's curious face to turn into a wicked smile, the glee in her eyes shining unmistakably. Sayve was her best friend, or in other words, her first friend she made after joining the fraction and ever since then, Sayve has been stuck to Ella's hip like glue.

Sayve and Ella had big difference between exterior looks –Ella was about an inch taller than Sayve and much fairer. Maybe it was because Sayve was always the one under the sun due to running errands around the city and out of it. But no matter, they both had the same dark locks.

" I don't know?" A set of teeth revealed itself behind Sayve's lips, " What do you need him for?"

How typical of Sayve to try to play the innocent in a conversation. " I want to hand the money over to him," As if to prove a point, Ella jingled the pouch in front of her face, the smile dying out from Sayve's face.

" You're no fun at all," She pouted, " Ahmad's at the kitchen."

" Thanks," Ella said, giving her friend a nod before leaving to go to the kitchen.

" Ahmad," She called out, making the figure turn her direction, giving her a quizzical look.

Ahmad was like any standard man, the same old normal looks that didn't make people throw as much as a second glance to. Before anyone here goes and jump into making their own conclusion, Ella did not like Ahmad in any sort of form. If anything, she'd probably like him as an older brother that held her straight.

Moving closer to him, Ella dropped the pouch with a loud thud as it landed onto the table. " Here's the money I made today. Could've gotten more but those guards came earlier than yesterday."

Ahmad gave a nod and sent her a smile, " That's great. You should rest, you've been doing this nonstop for the past few weeks –"

" And who are you to thank for buying us food to survive these few weeks?" She interjected, easily slipping past him to take a cup to drink some water. " Without me, you know you can't survive."

" Well," He said, " That's partly true. But let's cut you off some slack. Week off, starting tomorrow. And you can keep this," He pushed the pouch of coins towards her, " We have enough to survive another month, Ella."

A week off?

Keep the money?

" Okay," She finally said, " I'd like that." And she really did.

* * *

Altair had seen her more than once.

The first time he saw her was when he was on his way back from Damascus, already entering Masyaf after finishing some important business he had there. The girl had herself running away from the city guards high at her tail –but she was quick, he would give her that. When she tried to climb up to the rooftop but failed, something made him move forward to grab her hand and pull her up without a second's thought.

That particular action wasn't something he regretted or something he approved of, but he would live with it. Her eyes were the first thing he noticed, the greenish yellow-flecked eyes. It was a color he had never seen on a Arabian girl before, on Templars yes, but not on someone who was of the same race.

When he noticed he was staring, he took his chance to leave when she looked away.

The second time he saw her was when she was dancing at the streets. It was just a brief glance but long enough to know it was her.

This would be the third time he was seeing her. Within the city walls , the girl was buying fruits from an old lady with a cart. She had a smile on her face as she gave the lady her coins and walked away –and he was still staring.

A sharp pain erupted at his side and forced him to look away from the girl and to his fellow assassin. " What?" He growled.

The assassin sneered back at him, shoving Altair his supplies and handed him the horse he would use for traveling. " I said you can go now, Novice."

Sniffling back a brutal comment and probably a fight, Altair gave the assassin one last glare that told him _' Say that again and I will kill you.' _clearly in his eyes. Without much of a thought, Altair stuffed everything into the horse's pouch and mounted the animal. His eyes slowly drifted towards where the girl had previously stood but he caught himself before he started staring at an empty place with his stupid assassin standing at his side.

With a soft squeeze to the horse, the horse gave out a small neigh as they both entered the scorching dessert.

Throughout the whole journey, Altair could only wonder what made that girl so special that he could not get her off his mind.

* * *

Weee! Guess who's back with a quick update? I swear, this story is way easier than writing Transfer Student. But anyway, we finally managed to get a little insider on Altair's head! Woot woot! More Altair coming up in the next chapter!

**Fav/Follow!**

**Review for a penny or more Altair? **I'd love some feedback on this story and ideas for the story are always welcomed.


	3. Chapter 3

Here is chapter 3 :) AN at the end!

Disclaimer: I do not own AC; characters you do not recognise is solely my own creation.

* * *

All Her face twitched ridiculously and she blinked, not quite registering what Ahmad just said to her. " Pardon?"

It was her third day off and Ella was idling around in the house, humming a simple song as she hoarded things to place it back in its correct position. It was relaxing to say the least, compared to running away from guards and dancing all day but whatever sort or form of relaxation came crashing down the moment Ahmad opened his mouth.

A sigh absconded his lips, and Ahmad gave her a tired look, " Ella…"

" Don't _Ella_ me," She said back, " I am most definitely not going to Acre to collect your package. Do you know how long does it take to travel there? 10 days! 10 days to travel there and another 10 days to travel back. You must be insane if you think I would do it; ask Sayve or someone else to do it –_you_ gave me a week off."

She walked away from him and entered her room to take her shoes, remembering that she didn't want unwanted stones wedged in her feet.

Ahamd's voice continued to plead her to go to Acre and help him out, even when she closed the door on him. " You know that Sayve's busy and so is the rest and I know that I gave you the week off. Come on Ella, just this once."

" Well, sorry but no," She bellowed at him, fuming silently in her room as she slowly strapped on her shoes, ready to leave the house. Ahmad had his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall opposing her room when she opened the door aggressively, a glare directed his way.

" I will ask you again Ella, can you help me collect my package in Acre –or do I need to force you?"

Her head was pounding with rage –there were a few things that Ella undeniably did not like in her list of dislikes. The first thing was being told to do this or do that like a servant because she was not a servant and she will not do as told; granted if she wanted to do it she will, no questions asked.

The second thing was cooking. Ella could not cook to save a life. Sure, she had some skills in cooking a decent meal but it usually ended up being hurled out after a few hours. This was something Sayve had promised to help improve on, which Sayve has yet to prove.

The third thing was wasting 20 days on collecting something so absurd just for Ahmad.

And that was the worst.

" Just because your father left you in charge of this fraction while he's gone doesn't mean that you get to boss me around, Ahmad," She said grumpily.

He snorted, " Yeah it does. So are you helping me?"

" No."

Ella would be damned if he expected her to waste away 20 days of her life span just for him. Moving past him, she made her way to the exit as she did a mental checklist to see if she forgotten anything else to take along with her. After a few seconds, Ella decided that she had everything with her.

" Then you leave me no choice: either you help me retrieve that package or you can find another fraction."

_Find another fraction?_ The words echoed in her head and she halted into a dead track in front of the door.

" Are you blackmailing me?" She asked quietly as she turned to face him, shocked at the outcomes of his choice of words for her. Was he that desperate to get that package until he had use threats to come on her to make her agree? Ahmad very well knew she had nowhere else to go other than staying here with them.

" No –yes. Kind of," He shot her a sheepish smile, " I really need that package, Ella. Please understand that and you'd know I would go if I could but who would run this place without me?"

So he really was desperate.

She gave out a sigh and caved in –something told her she was going to regret this decision a lot in the near future. Ella blamed her kind soul and heart for this.

" Fine," She said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she squeezed her eyes shut. " But I expect at least a month off and no more errands to run –any errands, give it to Sayve. When do I leave?"

There was a loud puff of breath emitted by Ahmad when he heard that she agreed and almost in an instant, Ella was enveloped in a bear hug. Awkwardly, she hugged him back, her touch gentle on him.

" Thank you, Ella. Really," He whispered, pulling himself back.

" Uhh," She started, an uneasy smile materializing on her lips, " You're welcome?"

Ahmad chuckled and turned her back to the door as he steered her out, " You leave preferably tomorrow morning if you don't mind. I will gather your supplies and give them to you later tonight."

" Okay, sounds good," She agreed, " See you later! Oh –one more thing, is there anything you need? I'm going to the market."

Ahmad gave little thought on the subject as he replied smoothly, " Spices."

" Spices?" Ella questioned, " Why do we need spices for?"

He gave a wave of dismissal and muttered a " Just because." Softly as he closed the door at Ella's inquiring face.

Oh, so this is how he treats her after she agreed to help him gather his stupid package. What a gentleman he is, Ella thought grimly to herself as she proceed to walk down the streets of Masyaf.

Without the guards always being on her back 24/7, Ella found herself enjoying her time passing through the streets to get to the market. Familiar faces greeted her on her way and small conversation was enacted upon reaching her destination but she didn't mind stopping every once in a while –she had nothing else to do after all.

A large 'Herbs and Spices' signboard came large in her view, after all, she had walked right into it, causing the man tending the stall jerk awake. " S-Sorry," She stammered, blushing a deep shade of red. How embarrassing was she? Walking straight into a signboard.

" It's okay," The man said, sending her a kind smile as he stood up from the chair. " How may I help you?"

" I need some spices."

A spark of excitement ran into his eyes –_He must have little business, Ella thought sadly_–and clasped his hand together, " Ah, then you have come to the right shop young lady. I have a variety of spices imported from all over the world. Though, the prices may vary of course. Take a look around. "

Giving the man a nod, he disappeared back to his chair at the end of the shop, leaving Ella to find what she needed herself. A diverse of scents and colors clouded her senses as she wandered deeper into the shop, a fumble of names written on top of each spices.

Just as she continued to walk around, a random thought occurred to her that Ahmad had never specify what type of spices he wanted. So now what was she going to do? Run back to Ahmad and demand what sort of spices he need or randomly choose one? After a second's contemplation, Ella decided to erratically pick one. After all, it was time to even the score.

" I'd like this one please," Ella said, drawing the attention of the man as she pointed to the sack containing red powder.

"Cayenne Pepper?" The man questioned, his brows raising into his hairline but he shook his head when Ella gave him a weird look. " Ah, it's nothing. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Ella pressed her lips. Was there anything else she needed? She wasn't entirely sure about what they needed in the house –her other members were the one dealing with the stockings.

" Do you have any herbs for traveling?" She asked, following him as he nodded at her, motioning to follow him to the other part of the room.

The man lifted up a small pouch of tiny green leaves, " This is Gotu Kola. It helps heal open wounds and it can be applied externally which helps when you're traveling. Would you like this as well?"

Eyeing the little pouch, she pressed her lips together. It would probably be best if she bought the herbs and ease her travels a bit if anything. " Yes, thank you."

As if grateful of her answer, he was visibly relaxed as let out a puff breath and gave Ella a small smile. Again motioning her to follow him, Ella trailed behind him blindly as they made their way back to the counter. Settling her items on the countertop, he mumbled a few numbers to himself before looking back up at her green eyes, " This would be 15 coins."

" There you go," She said, pushing the coins to him in exchange of her items and placed them into her bag. " Thank you again."  
" It is I who should be thanking you… Lately there's been little customers coming to buy things here. You must have been my first customer in a week." He admitted, taking the coins, eyes lowering, unable to meet hers.

Ah, so what she assumed was right. This man had little customers these days. Peering over the counter, she gave him a pat on his shoulder, tossing him a grin as she said, " Don't worry, sir. I'm sure more will come after me."

Reassured at her assurance, the man nodded and smiled back at her as she made her way back to the entrance of the shop. A distant " Thank you and do come again." Faded softly in her ears as she was soon again in the scorching sun of Masyaf. Wandering hopelessly in the streets, Ella hummed a simple song as she took her time walking back to her house.

There was no good in going back early as Ahmad would only force chores into her hands and Ella definitely did not want that. Or demand her to cook, even if the outcomes of her cooking was disastrous and has a high potential of poisoning someone. Heck, she'd rather waste 10 years of her life than walk back to the house and be pushed around like some rag on the floor by Ahmad.

" Stranger in the night/Wish I could see you again/Do you remember me?" She sang softly, weaving herself through the crowd and earning a few stares as always. Ignoring the stares, she continued on singing to herself, wasting time away as she waited for the first sight of the sun setting.

Hours later, Ella went back to the house and time from then onwards passed in a blur of motion. Sayve had begun cooking and asked Ella to pass the freshly bought spice for her to add. Handing over the spice, Sayve muttered a soft " Thank you." To her and Ella nodded, already moving to head to her room and call it a day.

She would take her dinner as breakfast tomorrow.

She woke to the sound of someone tearing up and coughing or choking uncontrollably outside of her room. Glancing out window, it was still night and so she assumed it was only a hours or maybe minutes that had passed after knocking out. With a sigh, Ella dragged herself out of the bed and went out to see what all the commotion was all about.

" So –spic-ey," Ahmad choked, eyes watery as he looked at her, face scrunched up. " W-water."

Rolling her eyes at him, she stalked back into her room, flipping her hair back with her hand and she said, " Go get it yourself."

Snuggling back into the comfort of her bed, sleep slowly devoured her and a small part of her mind told her she had forgotten to get her supplies from Ahmad. Oh well, what's done is done. She might as well just get it from him tomorrow before she left.

The second she woke was when she saw red behind her eyelids, the unmistakable sunlight shining through her window and onto her. Eyes still squeezed shut, she stretched her arms, a satisfying pop on her bones as she continued to stretch her body. Shaggily rolling out of the bed, she stumbled in her steps as she walked out, still drowsy from her sleep as she made up her mind to eat breakfast, shower, find Ahmad and leave Masyaf for Acre. Finishing off the first 2, Ella looked around the house, poking her head in random places in the house, calling out his name every now and then just to draw out his attention.

Ella found Ahmad snoring away in his room, -in which where it was her least choice to find him in since he was always an early riser -one hand over his chest as he sprawled across the single bed diagonally. Rolling her eyes, she spotted her bag of supplies for her journey on the table beside him, a messily folded( how typical of him) piece of paper lying next to it.

_All your supplies are inside the bag; there is a horse ready for you at the main entrance gates of the city. And just in case I'm not awake to say this, have a safe journey back and forth, Ella. I'll be waiting for your return with my package._

_-Ahmad._

She heaved out a puff of breath and scribbled her reply onto a piece of paper and set it down where his note was. Looking over at his peaceful face, she scrunched her lips and gave a small peck onto his cheek and in a distant corner of her mind, she could just hear Sayve screeching like a little girl.

Ella grabbed the bag and stuffed the small pouch of herbs into a random pocket as she made her way out to the gates.

" Are you Ella, miss?" A young boy asked when she reached the stables at the gates. Ella regarded her gaze at him, he was not more than 14 years old of age and she winced inwardly at the memory of her being 14. It was not one she wanted to relieve.

_To the stables, honey –to the stables and hide!_

" Yes," She replied, pushing aside the dismaying remembrance of her childhood and fixated on getting the horse and leave Masyaf to Acre.

Instead of asking her to follow him into the stables, he did something she was not expecting. He narrowed his eyes and eyed her, like he was trying to pin point what was so familiar about her. " You look familiar… Do you dance?"

She laughed, " Yes, I do. You must've seen me during one of my performances on the streets."

" That must be it," The boy agreed, and then he beckoned her to follow him, " You dance well."

" Thank you," She said, and they fell into silence after that.

When Ella got her horse, and a soft blessing from the boy, she set out for her journey to Acre.

Days came and went as slow as her horse walked, but nonetheless, Ella managed to reach Acre within 10 days without so much of a commotion. It was a smooth journey, if anything –excluded the blazing sun and the heat rising off the sand like fire.

But either way, it was nightfall and Ella was nearing the city gates, another 2 or 3 more hours and she would reach it.

And then Ella saw something in the middle of nowhere, a body and a horse on the ground. An idea popped in her head and she decided to be the little sneak she was back home and made her way to the sleeping figures.

* * *

The walls of the city of Acre came into Altair's stereoscopic view; the soft glow from the fires surrounding it cast a perfect arch on the sand. Even with the great distance Altair and the city had, it was duly noted to him that it was a beautiful sight to see in the night. After being a day late because of his stubborn horse, it was finally a relief to see the city.

A cold breeze swept past him and Gazi(more or less what he named his temporary horse) gave a small snort, telling him to stop for the night and Altair succumbed into dismounting his horse. It has been a daily routine for the past week and a half for Altair and Gazi –small snort and Altair must stop for the night.

It was the first night set on his mission, when Altair was thrown off the horse. Gazi had snorted and yet Altair wanted to continue forward, so he did what every other people would do. Give a big slap on the horse's bum to move. Instead of having the results he wanted, he had himself a trashing horse and him falling onto the ground. He swore, there even was a stupid smirk on Gazi's lips too.

" If we travel for another 2 more hours, we should reach Acre's entrance," He said to Gazi, in hopes of changing the horse's mind. " And you would be in a stable where it is _warm_ and not _cold_. Are you sure you do not want to continue forward?"

Gazi gave another small snort, and used his hooves to dig into the sand, as if making a point that he will not be moving from this spot. Altair's fought of the need to scream and trash around like a little boy and remained composed, he would not let the damn horse get the satisfaction of getting under his nerves.

Heaving a sigh, Altair placed the sleeping mat on the ground after surveying the area and lowered his hood. He was uphill, which was a good thing. If Templars came from below, he would notice them first before they noticed him and it gave him the chance to escape –killing would not be an option. There was no mirages to hide the bodies and leaving them here would draw a lot of attention and the security in Acre would be on high alert for an Assassin.

He could not have that.

Gazi gave another snort and Altair peeled his eyes open, a glare directed at the horse. " Stay." He commanded, giving himself the contentment of bossing the horse even know he knew Gazi would go nowhere without him; a very well trained Assassin's horse he must say.

This time it wasn't a snort, it was a soft neigh that came from Gazi's lips.

Sometimes, Altair wished that he could set up a fire so he wouldn't be so cold when he slept. If he ever slept at all –not with the wariness of his surroundings he couldn't but he could allow himself to relax.

It was never sleep, not out in the open like this; bare and unprotected.

But Altair couldn't have much choice in the matter, after all being brought up as an Assassin, you never did have much choices in your life. For the umpteenth time, Altair let out another sigh for the night and twisted his body to the side on the mat, facing the city lights. He stared at it for a while, before he closed his eyes once again.

Maybe he should try to get some rest; in view of the fact that tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Sleep came to him for a while but not long after he woke up to the sound of footsteps at his campsite. Forcing his body to remain still, he evened out his breathing and pretended to be asleep.

The footsteps were light and quiet, and he amused whoever it was was a woman. To the untrained ears, it was hard to tell where the direction of the sound was coming from but since Altair was _Altair_, he could tell. There was a shift in the footing and he figured that the person was at Gazi, rummaging through his pack.

_Ah_, he thought to himself, _we have little thief here now don't we? _

His fingers ached for some action but he continued to be still –when the time is right, he will pounce. But even with that thought in mind, adrenalin coursed through his veins to just attack and be –

A hand brushed against his shoulder and his eyes snapped open, and on instinct, he grabbed the hand and flung the person down to the mat as he rolled out and hovered over the body, blade extracted and poised above the figure's neck.

Altair rarely ever got shocked or surprised in his lifetime but trust him when he said he was not expecting to see this girl being pinned down by him. In some dark dusty corner of his mind, he could hear a thought murmuring something about _4__th__ time_. He brushed the thought aside.

" What ," He asked, his voice coming out lower than he intended. " Do you think you are doing, _girl?_"

He could see the fear going on her strange green orbs of hers.

* * *

Well, here you guys go with chapter 3! Hope you guys like it as much as I liked writing it :) I made it longer than my other 2 chapters by around 2 thousand words, it's not much but heh, at least it's longer :3 What do you think Altair is going to do with this strange girl? Who is this girl anyway? Dun-dun-dun-dun! THE SUSPENSE.

Anyway, back to business, I don't really liked how I wrote Altair's POV in this chapter, could anyone **pin point me what's wrong**? Like I said, I still don't really know his personality and sorry for the OCC-ness :/

Reviews, favs, alerts are very much appreciated so thank you to everyone who did those_ -hearts-_

**Review, fav & alert if you love this chapter/story?** I'll love you forever and shower you with Altair _-hearts-_

And on a side note, review to tell me what's wrong with Altair in this chapter? Thank you! _-hearts-_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is here :)

Disclaimer: I do not own AC; characters you do not recognise is solely my own creation.

* * *

A normal person should not have seen the look of fear more than once but Altair was everything but normal. He was an assassin and as an assassin he was; he killed far more than you could ever count. The blood stains on his hands, his nails, his robes –they can never go away. But what else could he do but pretend that he never notices the way he looks at his blade extracting and shrinking back into its holder.

A normal person should not be pressing a blade to a person's neck.

A normal person should not be seeing the looks of fear on faces of everyone.

A normal person –a person that was someone but _Altair_, would have been asking what was the girl doing here in the middle of the night; not by pressing a blade to her neck and pinning her down onto his sleeping mat.

" What are you doing?" He asked, pressing the blade a little further and she sucked in a breath.

" N-Nothing," The girl stammered and squirmed when he placed his index and middle finger at her corated artery with enough pressure to feel her pulsing heartbeat.

" Who sent you here?" He demanded.

" N-No one! I was g-going to Acre and I saw your horse –" And then she stopped talking, distress clearly noted in her eyes and Altair held in a sigh. Her heart rate was normal; albeit fast but there were no signs of her lying.

He had known that she was of no danger the moment he first laid his eyes on her -first of, she had a circle of attention around her as she walked -no enemy of his would be stupid enough to draw so much attention to themselves. But not that he would tell her that -he had to maintain a strong intimacy level so she wouldn't do anything stupid.

Silence devoured them both and Altaïr was half as tempted to fake an attack just to see what her reaction would be. But that would be plain evil, even for him act upon so he just resumed to glaring at her shrinking form.

The way she bit on her lip made him painfully aware that he was avoiding her lips and into her eyes.

Yes, he would say that he found her rather... Attractive, for the lack of better words and never had he called the fairer gender attractive once. Up close, he could see the green orbs that once he was so enthralled in not so long ago contract with the closeness he was with her.

His eyes traveled to the gold freckles on her cheekbones and across her nose -a thin sharp nose.

He narrowed his eyes.

Now that he saw it -or noticed it-, her facial features were becoming more and more pronounce that she wasn't from here -from Masyaf and that she was like of the Europeans; fair and with wild eye colors.

But the slight dark tan across her skin and with her dark unruly locks they told him otherwise. Maybe she has a mix heritage, he thought to himself.

It took him a moment of recollection to realize that he had his hidden blade back into its holder but he was still pinning her now. He looked back into her eyes and she squeaked.

" Um..." She started, " C-Could you let go of me c-"

He clamped his hand over her mouth and he tensed up, as if a jolt of electricity went through his system.

A chorus of laughter rang into his ears and his assassin senses tingled with a prickling feeling. " Templars," He whispered, his eyes narrowing as he hastily stood up from her. " We need to leave."

" What –" The girl said, " Where are you going?"

Quickly rolling up the mat after the girl stood, Altair continued to move to Gazi, strapping him up to the set out. " Away from this place. Templars are –"

There was another chorus of laughter and then Altair saw familiar figures walking closer to them at the bottom of the sand hill –or at least what he thinks is a sand hill. " Hey, did you hear that?" A new voice protruded, and then the laughing stopped and Altair grimaced.

" Get on the horse," He demanded, pulling Gazi's reins, the horse's hooves digging into the sand with hushed pads.

The girl stood where she was, a dumbstruck expression lingering on her face as he moved towards her, " I have my own –"

" Your horse has left you; get on the horse now."

" _What?_"

An irritated growl of frustration rumbled behind his throat and he shoved her to his horse, glancing down to the figures that were moving closer to them. " Get on," He said again, " _Now_."

A red cross came to his view and the Templars arrived.

" Hey," The fat short one said, his sword raised to point at the both of them. " What do you think you're doing here? No one's supposed to be," And then he paused, as if noticing Altair's garments and his eyes widened in alarm. " Assassin! There is an assassin!"

He felt the girl tense up behind him and he nudged her with his feet, silently urging her to get on the horse so they could leave. There was forced movement and he knew the girl got up the horse as Gazi buckled beneath her weight but things were happening too fast for him to register it into his head.

The fat short Templar had came rushing towards him, but he was still a good amount of distance between them so Altair threw one of his throwing knives at his legs to slow him down. Like he predicted, the Templar stumbled and fell front, a groan escaping his lips. More enemies came into his view, roughly around four more he could say but none were confirmed as he mounted on the horse and rode off.

Altair could feel the back of his robes tighten against the girl's clenched fist on his robe. He said nothing about it.

They didn't make it far as a sharp pain embedded his leg and the next thing he knew Altair was falling off the horse with a knife wedged inches above his ankle as he landed onto the sand with a disgraceful thud. A string of curses left his lips and sucking in a breath, he pulled the knife out –the pressure of the wound increasing tenfold.

Ignoring the sneering pain on his left leg, Altair hastily stood up to face the smirking man. The man had clearly tempted death if he stood there with only a dagger in his hands –that could hardly ever lay a scratch on him. The wind blew and Altair disappeared along with the wind and reappeared behind the man, the smirk falling off his face as Altair pushed his blade spinal cord and effectively severing him dead as he threw the knife onto the ground.

The body fell onto the ground and he saw Gazi and the girl coming back for him. When they both reached near enough, he pushed himself up onto Gazi with his uninjured leg, a wince escaping his lips as he settled himself behind the girl.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No matter how many times he had gone accustomed to injures, the pain seemed to double up on him each time he managed to sustain one. Double up, yes, but that didn't mean that he couldn't pretend that the pain wasn't there.

Gazi began to gallop faster, a moment in time, there was a bump, and Altair hissed in pain when his injured leg collided with Gazi's body. So much for ignoring the pain.

" Are you okay?" The girl asked quietly.

Altair blinked in his sleep driven state and stared at his bleeding leg, blood soaking into his grey pants with a stain. His leather boots had managed to prevent most of the damage but there was a large tear now –he had to get that patched up.

He looked back to his former campsite where it grew smaller and smaller with each stride. Surprisingly the Templars didn't follow them. " Yeah. Just keep moving forward."

" Okay," She said. " We should arrive at Acre within a few hours…."

" No," He said after a moment, eyes narrowing as he eyed the city before them, " We're going to Jerusalem."

As of right now, Jerusalem was the closet city to them and it would be the best choice for him seeing that Templars would be on high alert for an Assassin that was wondering around Acre's borders. And maybe while doing so, he could drop this girl off with Malik's company until he was done at Acre's and then bring her back to Masyaf.

Yeah, that sounded like a great plan.

" Jerusalem?" She said in disbelief. " That is so far away! This is ridiculous; we are going to Acre. And –oh my goodness, you're bleeding –" She pulled on Gazi onto a stop the moment she saw blood dripping onto the ground and turned around to look at him. " We're going to Acre. You need to see a healer and have that healed before it gets infected –"

" I am _fine_," He hissed, clearly vexed at her useless concern for him. Did she not get that he could not go to Acre right now? The moment he stepped in, they would have his head. " We are going to Jerusalem and that is final."

" But," She closed her mouth, as if the words after that seemed unacceptable at the thought and she continued, " Your wound…"

" Is a matter that is none of your concern."

The girl clenched her mouth, already knowing that she had no say in this. Fury raged in her green eyes and Altair was slightly amused at the thought of the girl in front of him could hold in that much of an emotion. The staring contest broke when she turned around and moved Gazi towards the direction of Jerusalem.

They both said nothing after that.

* * *

Ella hated that man behind her right now with a burning passion. If it weren't for the fact that Ella lost her horse and that she carried too little coins to buy herself a horse to ride back from Acre to Masyaf, she wouldn't have even bothered to follow the man's decision of heading to Jerusalem. Because who wouldn't hate him for adding an extra burden to carry? Now she had to follow this man to Jerusalem and who knows what would happen to her then and then make her way back to Acre and then to Masyaf.

Oh, joy.

Half of what had happened hours earlier had been forgotten in her mind as she was too absorbed in thinking of the best ways to have her revenge of Ahmad for bringing her into this mess.

It was only when the horse halted into a complete stop and the man behind her slipped out gracefully onto the ground despite having an injury on his leg, she remembered of the situation she was in. She stared at the reins in her hands; wasn't she the one supposed to be deciding whether or not if they were to make a stop? She had the reins after all.

A thought occurred to her so suddenly –what if she made a run for it with the horse? She could leave this man here and make her way back to Acre and be done with this whole thing she got herself thrown in without a second's warning. Green eyes went back to the, his sword strapped to his hip gleamed in her eyes as moonlight reflected in it.

No, running away from him is plain suicide –temptation of death itself.

Suppressing a sneer on her face, she dismounted the horse and made her way to the man. Just as she was about to take her first step, a voice lodged in her head.

_Assassin_.

Her steps froze and her eyes widened. Assassin, that man in front of her was an assassin. And then another thought flashed in her mind that the man that saved her wore the exact same clothes –was he the one who saved her? If he did, she could say that he meant her no harm as he had helped her before but assuming that he didn't –given that she had no way to prove if he did or did not save her –he was a dangerous man to be around. Staying with him alone in the middle of the night, like how she phrased it earlier; was temptation of death itself.

As if the man could read her thoughts, he said quietly, " I won't hurt you."

Ella stilled visibly, her eyes trained on him and she inched closer to the horse. " How can I be so sure, that you won't hurt me?"  
Crackling silence followed after that as Ella watched him continue arranging his sleeping bag. His movements were apprehensive, unlike the gracefully ones he possessed moments ago. When he was done, he turned and look at her and all she could do was refrain her mouth from dropping to the ground. To say he was handsome would be an understatement of the century; she was _gorgeous_.

How could she have missed this fact the moment she laid eyes on him?

The first thing she noticed was his eyes, the dark orbs of his staring down into hers as if trying to read her face. The next was the thin scar that traveled from the upper right part of his lips to the sides of his chin, and Ella briefly wondered how would it feel like to have a scar on your face. Was it smooth like how people told her? Eyes wondering again, she drunk in the sight of him. For an assassin, he sure had the looks.

Assassin –

" Hurting you, would go against all I stand for," He said, his voice sharp as if remembering something distasteful as it snapped her out of her thoughts.

" And what is that you stand for?" She wanted to ask, but she knew her limits when they are far from oblivious. If he wanted to hurt her, he would've hurt her by now so Ella saw no reason to be wary of him –although standing at least an arm's distance would keep her frantic heart at peace. Or at least as much peace as she could get standing next to an assassin. " I will keep you to your word then."

He nodded and dropped to the ground, a hiss leaving his lips as he peeled off his boots and rolled up his pants as he inspected the wound. The wound was fairly deep, from what she could observe in the distance but she couldn't really say as it was too dark to see much. Shuffling her feet, she contemplated on helping him with his wound or not.

With a lament, she walked up to him. Since he saved her, she should at least repay him by tending his laceration before it got infected. His eyes watched hers attentively as she dropped the small little pouch she always carried around onto the floor and crouched down to his eye level, examining his wound for a moment before rummaging through her pouch to pull out the herbs she brought along.

The cut was fairly deep, as what she had thought, maybe an inch or two deep as a knife had after all, wedged it way through his skin. He should be thankful if it weren't for the fact his boots acted as a safeguard, the cut would've been much more serious than this. The bleeding had stopped a while ago, from the patches of dried blood on his skin but seemingly, it happened to restart bleeding again, only a little though.

" Do you have a clean cloth?" Ella asked, not bothering to look at him for an answer as she proceeded to move to the horse to grab a canteen she saw hanging from one of the straps.

When she got back to the man, a small piece of cloth was next to her pouch. It wasn't exactly what Ella could call clean but it would do. If the man had any questions on why she was aiding him, he did not voice it out and Ella was silently thankful for that. She didn't want to think that if she said the wrong thing, he would go back on his word and hurt her.

Shuddering away that series of thoughts, she poured a bit of water over the wound and the man jerked under the sudden contact but remained after that. She bit her lip; it was obvious that the man was in much pain even if he didn't show it and she couldn't do anything but help clean the wound and bandage it up. After cleaning the wound, Ella proceed to pull out the herbs she bought from that man the other day.

Now, she wasn't exactly sure on how to use it but the man had said it could be used internally or externally so she decided to crush the tiny leaves and place it on the wound. The man jerked again under the sudden contact again and Ella hurriedly took out her bandage wraps from her pouch.

" It'll be over in a minute," She murmured, more of a reassurance to herself than to him.

Ella never liked seeing people in pain, mentally or physically; somehow or rather she felt like the pain was her own. She didn't know how this _thing_ occurred, but as far as she could reminisce, it has always been part of her life.

A minute or two passed and she was done; the bandage neatly wrapped around his leg.

The man sent her a nod when she stood up hastily, as though telling her thank you. Giving him a nod of her own, Ella walked a little awkwardly to the horse as she felt his stare burn behind her back but she ignored it. Sleeping would be the best thing to do right now, even if it was with an assassin and she was very much cold.

She just prayed that he wouldn't leave her when she woke.

* * *

Just a quick update :) I'm trying to make the chapters longer so it might take some time before I update again :3 Originally, I intended to have another scene where they make their way to Jerusalem and met Malik over there but it would take too long so I'm making that to the next chapter ;)

Hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did writing it :D

Reviews/Favs/Alerts are loved very much and a big thank you to all who did those! xoxo

**Review for a hungry author? And for some love for Altair? **

Until next time x


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own AC; characters you do not recognise is solely my own creation.

Notes: I don't really like this chapter much :/ The writing felt much too odd and sorry for the long wait! It's just a filler for now, I wanted some action but it's going to take a loong time before I actually post it so this'll have to do for now :) Enjoy x

* * *

Ella woke up to the sound of footsteps ruffling in the sand close to her and all she could think of was that she was very much surprised that he hadn't left her in the night. Or killed her for the matter.

" Here," His hand lowered to hand a red object.

Looking at the apple, she accepted his offer by taking it and grabbing a bite from it almost instantly. She didn't know she was this hungry until there was actual available food in front of her. The last time she ate should be around late afternoon the day before.

" Thanks."

He grunted in response and stood up, the mat rolled under his arm shoved into a strap at the horse. " We should get going if we are to reach Jerusalem within the next 2 days."

The faster they got to Jerusalem the faster she might be able to get back home. But then again, her eyes wondered to the man fiddling with the horse, it all depends how long it will take for him to be done at Jerusalem and if he wants to help her return back to Acre to collect Ahmad's package and back to Masyaf.

" When do we leave?" She asked.

The man shot her a glare, as if her question was held the most obvious answer in the world. " We leave now."

Deciding it was best if she keep her mouth shut for fear of saying something stupid again or get her life on the line, she stood up and continued munching on the apple as she watch him strap up.

She stood in silence as she watched him work, his arms rippling with strength. The bandage on his leg had seeped up blood that -she assumed should be dry by now- traveled down into his boots before going out of eye sight and her red went back to the back of his head.

She wondered what was his name.

As much as she wanted to ask, she knew it was best to keep her mouth shut.

Before she even knew what was happening, they were already making their way to Jerusalem. What was left of the apple disappeared along with it.

Ella hated the heat.

One should think that being under the sun for the whole life, she should have gotten used to it but no. She didn't think it was possible to ever get used to the sun or the heat. The heat waves that was currently frying her brain made sure of that.

She hated the surroundings to put it simply.

There were no clouds for one, to reflect the heat or trap the heat during the night. And as far as her eye sight could see, it was all sand, sand, sand and a bit of cactus every now and then. Even the heat waves were visible to her eyes.

This was one of the few things she couldn't understand why Sayve enjoyed doing so much. The heat was literally boiling her insides beneath the skin, and melting her clothes onto her. It was either because Sayve was too dumb to realize she was draining her lifespan running up and down in the sun or she just wanted to get out of the house.

Ella had a feeling it was the latter.

" I hate being cooped up," Sayve said. It was a cool evening that the both of them had nothing to do on and so they both went up to the roofs to enjoy the cool breeze. Both dressed in their usual attire, Sayve had tossed her scarf aside claiming it blocked the wind from hitting her face .

The both of them laid down on their backs, hands propped behind their heads to support it.

Turning her head to the left to face Sayve, she watched in amusement as her friend closed her eyes when the wind blew another round. " Why is that?"

" It's like being in a cage, Ella. One big cage that lets you do whatever but still a cage. Get what I mean?" Sayve replied.

She hummed, turning her gaze back to the pastel colored sky. " Not really."

Sayve's soft laughter filled her ears for a while before she replied, a smile evident in her voice, " Then it doesn't matter. You should be happy that the cage never confines you."

It was days later when someone told her that was exactly the reason why Sayve was hardly ever home; running errands all over the place on a daily basis.

_ The cage never confines you._

It was hard to tell, when the heat was burning her insides, that if traveling with this stranger in the dessert was considered as a cage. There were no exits, none that she could visibly see that is. Sand stretched as far as they could go, Ella felt her mouth go dry.

Thirst burned at the back of her throat.

Almost idly, her eyes went to the water canteen strapped to the horse on her left. If only she could just take one sip -

" There is no more water," A voice snapped her out of her thought, and her hand retracted back to her instantly, " If you are planning on drinking that."

Ella stared at the man's back, eyes narrowing at the thought of him knowing that she was planning to take it.

When she said nothing, the man continued to speak, " When we see an oasis, we shall stop there."

Turns out the moment they saw an oasis was a good deal of hours later since they last spoke; with the sun close to setting. Well, at least they had a water source when they both rested for the night at the oasis _-if_ they rested at the oasis. She'd like to think that they were both resting for the night over here; but she dare not ask the mysterious man to confirm her question.

Her gaze never lifted off his figure as he tied the horse around a tree bark; a weird interest bubbling in her as she watched him. Why? She didn't know the answer to it -other than finding his movement being so precise and graceful.

" What's your name?" She blurted out suddenly, and her eyes widen at her own surprise and she hoped that he didn't hear her. Apparently, he did and his movement stopped for a fraction of time before he resumed with whatever he was doing.

" Altair," He said.

Altair, she tested out on her lips and she smiled. A new found confidence in her after he said his name; and she told him hers. " My name is Ella. "

He grunted in response and she soon figured that Altair wasn't much of a talker like Ahmad was or Sayve. She sighed, slowly leaning back into the tree she was pressed to and closed her eyes. And shot back open almost instantly when she heard a ghost of a running water in the distance.

Water.

Finally -she could drink water! Standing up quickly, she pushed past him and grabbed the canteen, informing him softly that she was going to refill the canteen and be back shortly. It was easy enough for her to find a lake just with the soft hum of water running from a direction she was unsure of. But it didn't matter –she had water to drink after all the hours under the burning heat of the sun.

As she neared the lake, Ella couldn't help but be awed by the sight of the lake. A number of trees surrounded the lake, the leaves dipping closesr to the water like a curved rooftop. As much as Ella had complained about not having enough clouds in the sky earlier in the day, she was glad for a fact that the lake looked absolutely beautiful with the stars that weren't hidden behind the clouds winking back at her in the water's reflection.

Ella let out a wistful sigh and drank the water greedily when she reached the bank, after filling up the empty canteen. The water cupped in her hands were downed almost instantly; streaks of water trailing down her lips onto her chin and slowly soaked up by her clothes. But it still wasn't enough –the heat was still trapped within her. What she really wished for was just a chance to dip herself into the lake, to clean off all the dirt she collected from the past few weeks of her journey and the heat that confined in her.

But of course, she had no towel, much to her dismay and she had that stranger –no, Altair, waiting for her back at their campsite. Okay, maybe he wasn't waiting for her but who knows? He might decide to continue his journey to Jerusalem on his own without her and only then, she would be stranded with no sort of form of transport to go back to Masyaf.

Pathetically, she started to splash water onto her face, massaging the cooling water onto her skin. There wasn't much cooling down she could do anyway.

" What is taking you so –what are you doing?" A voice said, halting her from her actions.

Freezing at the voice, she felt her face turn a lovely shade of red. Of course, now would be the time he had to come find her –when she was busying herself with childish efforts to cool herself. " Cooling down?"

He chose not to comment directly on her but occasional grumbles could be heard as he sat down a comfortable distance away from her, slowly trudging off his boots. The wraps and the herbs following soon after and he lowered his leg into the water, a hiss escaping his lips narrowly and she saw his body tense on instinct.

Blood filled the corners of the lake where he sat, slowly turning the clear water to a dirty puddle and Ella was thankful that she refilled the canteen before Altair polluted the water with his blood.

She watched his skillful fingers trail along the wound, washing it clean. It must've been painful, she thought, to have a knife wedged into your leg. Ella wouldn't imagine the pain that she would have to go through but then, thinking on a different note, she suspected that this supposedly assassin(given that those men they were running from wasn't lying) had gotten worse injures compared to this.

_Assassin_.

As much as Altair proved to be true to his word, of not hurting her throughout the day, she still couldn't sit well with the fact. Shouldn't he have killed her for knowing that he was an assassin? Now thinking about it, he shouldn't have given her his name too –she could've spread the word that there was an assassin named Altair on the run. Not that she would tell anyone anyway; she'd like to keep her head intact for as long as she lived.

Deciding that having her thoughts running around the word assassin and Altair was doing more doubts with the man next to her than anything else, she went on a different topic. Apparently, there wasn't much to think of in the middle of the dessert and the silence between the two of them was starting to get on her nerves.

" Aren't you afraid someone would take the horse?" She asked, tired of the working silence as he mended his leg.

" I'm not afraid someone would take Gazi," And then a pause, " There is no one out here other than us."

All words failed her ears the moment the word Gazi left his lips, part of it because she was shocked he named the horse and half of it because she didn't want to admit her idiocy to asking such an obvious answer. " Gazi?"

Altair shot her a look, a glare fixated under his hood, " The horse. His name is Gazi."

Of course she knew the horse was Gazi. " No, what I meant was –you named your horse Gazi?"

His glare hardened on her, if that was possible and he lifted his leg out of the water. " I do not believe you are incapable of having the common sense to think for yourself, girl."

Biting back the words that could enrage him and possibly endanger her life, she reframed herself; her back straightening, a habit that came to her when she was stressed or frustrated. " Why did you name the horse Gazi?"

" I don't see a reason why I can't name the horse to my wishing."

Turning her gaze away from his, she stared out at the lake. What he said was true, he could name his horse whatever he wished –temporary or not. He had, after all, paid the sum for the horse. As long as the horse did its job, anything else could be thrown in along with it.

So why was she so fixated at asking why he named the horse Gazi?

She blamed the weeks of not having conversation with anyone until recently for this situation to happen.

" Sorry," She said, a sigh leaving her lips as she heard him buckle his boots back on. " I didn't mean to pry… I just didn't have anyone to talk to for a long time. It gets to the head you know? I'm just not used to not having human contact for so long. "

Like she suspected, he didn't reply to her little confession. Altair wasn't much of a talker, from what she could gather during the hours they spent together. He was a huge difference from Ahmad, which was a constant babble in their home.

Never would she have thought that she would miss his annoying company.

A shuffling of feet drew Ella back to what she was doing. She stared at his careful work, his hands rebounding back a clean cloth around the wound after applying some of the herbs she handed him over the other day. After a minute or two of watching him, she turned her attention to the lake, creating ripples on the water, watching her own reflection slowly shimmering under the moonlight sky.

" We should head back, it's getting late."

She jerked her head to the right so fast it surprised her that it didn't even felt painful. Or maybe because she was too interested in staring at Altaïr's leather boots inches away from her face as he stood where she sat.

When did he get here?

" R-Right," She stammered, suddenly feeling much aware of how close he was standing next to her. How fast he could just stab her in the heart and run for it. Hastily standing up from the ground, she picked up the canteen and stood a good feet away from him and continued, " We should..."

Dark eyes observed her, narrowing them just an inch and he nodded.

The walk back was awkward, the occasional light brushes against the arms would sent a jolt of electricity running through her spine and adrenalin pumping through her veins -as if everything was screaming for her to run.

There was one thing she couldn't understand; why did she feel so uncomfortable now rather than just now? She was much closer to him was she sat behind him for heaven's sake!

Probably because it was night and it was dark and it reminded her much too much of the night before.

Caught up in her thoughts again, she failed to notice a root stuck up above the ground, curving a perfect U shape before sinking back in, as though it was made for her to trip her leg on it.

Her eyes closed on instinct, bracing herself for the hard, painful impact of the ground they walked on; Ella was once again met with surprise when none came. But not as much surprise when she found herself stumbling back into Altair who had his hand gripped firmly on her elbow.

He must have reactions as fast as lightning to catch me like that, Ella thought.

And then it all came crashing down again -he was an assassin. Trained killer. He's going to kill you know for knowing his identity and-

" You're welcome."

Her thoughts rammed shut and she blinked. " What?"

" I said," He repeated, a faint expression on his face told her he wanted to roll his eyes but decided not to, " You're welcome."

Okay, now she was confused; all thoughts of him being an assassin running out the door as quick as they came. She didn't even say a thank you or anything that could've gotten a remark like ' You're welcome' given to her -oh.

Just, oh.

" T-thank you," She stammered again; what was with her tongue tonight? " For catching me."

Did she mention he had his hood down from his head? Even in the pale lightning the moon gave off, every inch of his face was visible to her. Elastic glint drew her attention back to the scar on his lip, where the stubs of his mustache didn't grow. She wondered how he got it... But that wasn't exactly the most appropriate question to ask on the second day of meeting.

Her eyes wandered into his then, a reflection of herself clear in his eyes. Ella knew his eyes has always been dark, but in the night, somehow it seemed that his eyes became a shade darker. His cocky smirk came into view when he noticed she was staring; flustered, she stared at the hand that gripped onto her.

It was weird to see one who wore as much leather as he, chest leather straps, leather boots and now leather gloves. She could see that the gloves he wore were well used, the scratches and peeled leather decorating over the knuckles; give or take another couple more months and it would have to be replaced.

And then she noticed the missing finger.

* * *

**Cliffhanger! Well, I hope it is :P Tell me what you think about this chapter! Boring? Too short? More convo? More description?**

**The review button is looking lonely :( And so is his friends(fav/alerts) so why not click him and his friends to make them happy? :D **

**I'll try to post the next chapter asap**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own AC; characters you do not recognise is solely my own creation.

Notes: Sorry the long wait again :/ I blame school. Don't really like this chapter's writing but meh. It's not proofread so do tell me if there's any typos or grammar mistakes x Enjoy

* * *

There were a lot of times when Ella curse that blasted Ahmad for rubbing his habit of speaking his mind out loud.

Hours had passed since they last spoke to each other and the close proximity they had was none but suffocating for her.

Although with her back turned against him, and a good few meters away, Altair's burning gaze lingered on her back.

What was going through his mind as of right now… She didn't want to know. As much as she was curious, it was better if she buried those thoughts away in her head before they lead up to another unnecessary tension among them.

Staring at the bark of the tree, she recalled back what happened after leaving the pond.

After Altair's heroic action towards her, Ella couldn't help but feel a little bad for her words. Thinking back, she should have minded her own business.

She once again, blamed Ahmad for all the mess that she was in. It would have saved her a lot of trouble from running for her life from bandits to starting up little tension fights between her and her savior. Narrowing it down, it was all because of a stupid _package_ that Ahmad couldn't take it himself.

_" Do not ask questions you are not willing to pay the price for."_ His words echoed into her mind. She shivered in remembrance of his glare fixated on her as he said that.

Disaster came right after she felt his grip tighten on her forearm and the words flew right out her mouth before she had the chance to evaluate whether or not if it was the right thing to say.

" What happened to your finger?" She asked.

Maybe he knew she was going to ask that question sooner or later after she saw his missing finger because he wasn't having his blade at her throat.

His muscles on his arms tensed however, and she held her breath.

The way Altair spoke through his gritted teeth made it sound as though he was pained. " It was a false promise of paradise."

Confused, Ella questioned again. " What?"

The words to her made no sense then, as it made no sense now but she should've minded her own business.

In a flash, right after she said that, the nails digging into her arms were ripped out and he stood a few feet away from her. His hood that bared down made his emotions raging through his eyes visible. And yet, why could Ella read none of what he was thinking or better yet, what he was feeling? " Do not ask questions you are not willing to pay the price for." He snarled.

The rest of her memory after that faded almost quietly to the back of her mind as she continued to stare at the trees.

What if she were to sleep out here tonight and when she woke, he would be gone? Granted, she already went through this minor panic attack the day before and he had yet to prove he would abandon her. But with his new found anger towards her, nothing seemed impossible to her at this moment of time.

But if she didn't sleep… Efforts of staying awake throughout the travel to Jerusalem would be difficult and not to mention the heat blaring down on her out in the open made her want to curl up into a ball and sleep.

_This is ridicules_, she told herself, _might as well just say you're sorry and be done with it_.

But there was just one minor problem that was stopping her from doing so and that was him; would he attack her for bringing the subject back up or just ignore her and let them all into tense silence and possibly leave her or forgive her?

The night went pass excruciatingly slow for her as she was kept wide-awake by her mind and by the man next to her. During sometime in the night, every single sound being made by their surroundings shot straight up into her ear and rang alarms in her mind. _Is he trying to leave now?_ Ella wondered at very sound but dared not turn to check if he was indeed, mounting on Gazi. After numerous heart racing episodes, it was safe to assume that he would not leave. Although, staying awake was crucial to ensure that her apparent assumption did not prove her wrong as it did many times.

By the time the sun rose high enough to lighten their surroundings, it was time for them to leave. Once again, Altair did not leave her during the night and handed her over an apple wordlessly.

When the apple reached her hands, a painful blow was directed at her heart. She had said such personal questions that had obviously offended him and yet he still gave her an apple? This was more than Ella was expecting –she was (albeit little bit too hopefully) expecting him to just ignore her and still allow her to follow him to his journey to Jerusalem. She could survive a few days without eating and they would reach Jerusalem by tomorrow night –then she would eat; at least according to her plan.

But now with the apple in her hand, and Altair handling Gazi, she decided to heck with it and just say she was sorry.

Consequences be damned.

At least she wouldn't have guilt eating her very mind at very second.

With her eyes trained on his back, she took steady steps towards him as she nervously ran her thumb over the smooth texture of the apple as a nervous gesture.

" Hey," Ella started quietly, and when he stopped doing what he was doing, Ella took it as an indication that he was listening and continued. " I'm… Sorry for what I said yesterday. I wasn't thinking straight."

Altair merely kept quiet at her sudden response but that didn't deter her from trying to seek forgiveness. When he turned around, Ella could feel the blood rushing to her ears, the loud rhythmic beat of her heart always reminding her that she could die at his whim. Slowly, as if hesitating –which she was, mind you- she looked into his eyes.

" We are different, but I think you know that already. And this –" She paused, her brows squishing up together at the thought of trying to put her thoughts into words. When all words failed, she gestured wildly between Altair and their surroundings. " Is just overwhelming. With you being an assassin and all… I always just keep thinking that _you're going to kill me_." And leave me stranded, she wanted to say but left that part out.

But nonetheless, she said it. Now this man knew her greatest fear and he was going to use it against her.

But his reply made her genuinely surprised, and she didn't think she masked her shock well too.

His words were soft when he finally gave the acknowledgement that he was listening to her silent dismay at their current situation. " If this gives you any comfort, I will give you my word that I will not lay a finger on you. I do not allow death to be as though a trivial act on my part."

True enough, she was indeed comforted by his words. If he was as serious as he sounded, then maybe Ella should give him a chance –the benefit of doubt on his words. But she was gambling her life away to this stranger she barely knew and she still wasn't true to believe him or not.

But what choice did she have anyway?

Believe him and have a clear state of mind that didn't jump into the worst possible scenarios of her death or not believe him and be forever in a state of paranoia.

The latter sounded horribly terrifying and so, being the sane individual she was, she decided to believe him. But just how sane was she to believe in an assassin?

Not sane at all undoubtedly, she wordlessly mused to herself. The pressure of the blood rushing to her head decreased after some time after she decided to believe him. It seems like the aftereffects of believing in his word had started to take place.

Green eyes met the same pair of dark orbs that she could only describe as beautiful and locked her gaze, " Thank you," And then her eyes fluttered close to the floor as if afraid of looking into his eyes when she said her next words. Where had all her confidence gone? " And like I said earlier, I'm sorry. I should've thought more before I spoke and I –I'm sorry."

Ella fiddled with the apple in her hand with her index finger she dug her nail in and took it out, watching the juice flow out from her perfect U shape hole.

When she managed to look back into his eyes again, the silence on his end made her feel anxious for his reply. Although Ella knew no bad outcome could come from this other than the two of them falling into awkward silence now that she knew he would not lay a hand on her, she was still jittery on the inside. Maybe it was because she had never been in an awkward situation for long.

" It was not your fault. Curiosity gets the best out of everyone." He replied.

It was exactly at that moment when she noticed his eyes were not a dark shade of brown but inside a light hue of gold. But then again, maybe it was because the sunlight –there was no such things as an eye turning colors.

After a few seconds of daydreaming, she remembered his words. It wasn't her fault? " But…"

" I accept your apology, Ella."

_I accept your apology. _

A huge smile burst over her lips and she couldn't help but kept that grin on her face for him. " Thank you."

Altair sent her a slow nod, and carried on with his work. She excused herself from his presences with the reason of wanting to go to the lake before they leave.

When she stood by the lake, she just stared at the rising sun reflecting on the lake. Orange shimmers glinted in her eyes, as if winking at her. Why did she come here, anyway? After a moment of silence in her head, she decided that she didn't know the answer to that. Ella guessed she was standing there for quite sometimes because Altair came looking for her with Gazi behind him.

Altair was next to her in a matter of seconds and she looked down to the floor –only to notice that she was holding a rock in her hands. When had she picked that up? Her eyes narrowed with the thought but did nothing to question it and placed the rock in her pocket.

She turned to him then, watched him watched her and she said, " Hey Altair, before we leave…Can we –Can we start over? I know we haven't exactly gotten the most normal introduction and I want to restart over. Just to get the introductions right." She cleared her throat. " So hi, I'm Ella and you are?

She felt a smile peel through her lips at his reply. " Altair."

" A pleasure to meet you," She told him earnestly as she made her way to Gazi, grabbing his saddle to hoist herself up.

He sent her a nod and replied before helping her up Gazi. " As it is with you."

As they made their way out into the desert, suddenly a wave of exhaustion washed over her and she remembered that she had not had a wink of sleep the night before; her mind too preoccupied with Altair. Her eyes looked at his back in front of her.

Would he…?

Another wave of dizziness hit her hard and she tightened her grip on his robes. Never mind what he thought, she told herself, she was going to sleep and he wasn't going to stop her from doing so. Ella rested her head on his back, her eyes drifting shut with slumber.

She was already in cloud nine when her head came in contact with his back to notice he stopped Gazi from walking, or the fact that his whole body became tense before relaxing again. Gazi continued forward.

* * *

It was sundown when the walls of Jerusalem came into view.

The girl –Ella was awake by then so he didn't need to go through the trouble of waking her up, thankfully. Altair lifted up his hood in order to keep his identity anonymous. He slowed Gazi's pace down as they neared the entrance, a guard already walking towards them.

" State your business," The guard said grumpily, when they stood not more than 5 feet away the city of Jerusalem.

" My wife and I are here to visit her sickly sister."

He felt the girl stiffen behind him at the word _wife_, and he couldn't help but smirk. Too bad that she couldn't see his response to her childish actions. His attention was drawn back to the guard who eyed him suspiciously. A number of weapons were armed on him he knew, but it was not uncommon for people to be traveling with weapons across cities. The guard mumbled a few words to them which he guessed was a warning of some sort–in which he had not caught at all- and shouted " LET THEM IN!" to the other guards at the entrance.

The gates opened Altair sent a stubble nod to the guards and went away. Children were scattered everywhere along the streets, some laughing, some crying and some just silently watching the crowd pass by them next to their mothers. Turning a sharp left, a bar came into view –a perfect place to put Ella in for now.

A quick scan through the windows and an affirmative thought went through his head.

Inadequately amount people.

Good.

Stopping Gazi near the bar, mumbling a quiet 'stay' as he dismounted the horse and motioned Ella to do the same and to follow him. He had to place Gazi in a stables later, so he could rest before resuming their journey back to Acre again. She was next to him when they reached the entrance of the bar and he handed her over a bag of coins. " I need to you to stay here for a while until I come back. I'm going to meet a friend who will look after you for the time being."

It was a good plan; but apparently, the girl thought so otherwise. " What? Why can't I just follow you?"

Suspicion of him leaving her again was rising up within her again, so it seemed. " I am not going to leave you. It would be best if he did not see you right now to avoid certain matters."

The fact that Ella could not follow him right now was true. Granted that Malik was not in the mood to help him out –or was on his side in fact, things would only go downhill from there onwards. The girl would be silenced just so their location and organization would be kept a secret from others. The only way to ensure that was through death. And he had enough of pointless death to last a lifetime.

" It's not that," Ella admitted, " I just don't like being in places like these."

There was nothing he could do about changing the scenery for her. A bar would draw the least suspicion than any other place would. True, an inn would be a better place but it would be a waste of coins to rent a room when all he needed was Malik's agreement.

" I will be gone utmost an hour," He told her. Just as he was about to walk away, he turned back and looked at her right in the eye, making sure to emphasize on his orders. " Stay _here_."

With that being said, he vanished from her sight and rapidly made his way to the bureau. It was better for the both of them and for the sake of her safety, that she didn't know which direction he was heading to. His hand went to the closest ledge that he could use to hoist his body up to the roofs. The quickest way to the bureau was through the rooftops where he could avoid any minor distractions and guards. By the familiar rooftop entered his view, the sun had already set. Making sure there were no Templars lurking at the bottom, he took his final jump to reach the bureau. As Altair climbed up the ladder, there was a faint light shining from enterance and slip into the bureau undetected from the outside.

The light was from the fires nailed onto the walls to provide light as there were no visible windows to allow light to come true. Nothing had changed since he last came here, not that he minded anyway. It was easier to navigate himself like this.

" Safety and peace, Malik." Altair said, when he caught sight of the assassin clad in blue hunched over the table; clearly absorbed in his work.

The occasional noise from Malik's work stopped and Altair stood in front of him. " Your presence here deprives me of both."

It would take some time convincing Malik to play caretaker for the girl for a few days. He grimaced.

* * *

Notes 2: AND WE FINALLY HAVE MALIK! I've been waiting to write him since like idk, day 1 xD Tell me your thoughts by clicking the review button x And thank you to everyone who's been reading this story so far and to those who reviewed! And to that anon user, you know who you are ;) Here's the update you wanted x

**Review/fav/alert** = faster updates and more love

Until next time :)


End file.
